Belarus units reach construction milestones

28 February 2019

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Unit 1 of the nuclear power plant under construction at Ostrovets in Belarus has been connected to its own source of power supply, Rosatom has announced. Concreting the reactor dome of unit 2 has also been completed, it added.

Workers at Belarus' first nuclear power plant (Image: Rosatom)

The Belarusian nuclear power plant is being built using the Russian VVER-1200 AES-2006 design. Both units are scheduled for commissioning by next year, providing 2340 MWe of net capacity.

The Russian state nuclear corporation said both of the "backup auxiliary transformers" had been put into operation at unit 1.

Vitaly Polyanin, director of the Belarusian nuclear power plant project at Rosatom subsidiary ASE, said the power supply enables testing of the electric motors of the unit's main circulation pumps ahead of hydrotesting of the reactor installation.

Unit 2 of the same plant has "completed an equally important process", Rosatom said, with the concreting of the dome of the outer containment building.

This was achieved according to schedule as the project approaches the "finishing line" of construction and installation work on the unit.

RosSEM Trust started concreting the dome in November 2017 and has since laid a total of 3043 cubic metres of concrete. The structure is 15.6 metres high and has a diameter of 51.6 metres.

Its completion means installation of the passive heat removal systems through steam generators can start, Rosatom said. This is the latest stage in the preparation of the power unit for commissioning, Polyanin said.

An intergovernmental agreement between Russia and Belarus specifically on cooperation in the construction of a nuclear power plant in Belarus was signed in March 2011.